The Upper Hand
by I'mYourRamblingFool
Summary: Alex is forced to have a new patient and Alika Brown is not one to be pushed around by some sexist intern. has Alex met his most worthy opponent? AlexOC.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hihiihihihhhihhihi! Fuck, I'm excited! YAH! Please review, I swear I'm cool!**

**Pairing: Alex/OC  
Genre: Romance/little bit Humour and Drama  
Rating: T  
p.s. you know you love me! and this fic!**

**Chapter 1: Really Bad Day**

Alex Karev was having a _really_ bad day. His latest prank on good ole' Georgie had left his entire group of "friends" (if you could call them that) mad at him, and if that had been all, Alex wouldn't have been too worried. Yang and Grey would've been mad, but secretly amused; and Stevens would've frozen him out, but that would've left him with less opportunity to feel guilty over hurting poor Georgie's feelings. But the Nazi had just _happened_ to be in the locker room when George opened his locker and the mountain of condom wrappers had come falling out. It was apparent that Bailey had no sense of humour and believed in bloody retribution, because she'd added an extra dozen patients on to his rotation.

Alex groaned internally, but showed no other emotion to the Nazi other than an arrogant sneer. Then he trudged down the hall, knowing the other four interns were probably smirking in a vindictive fashion. And he started on his pre-rounds with a brisk walk, checking EEGs, BPs and one over-simulated bladder. His pile of clipboards got smaller and smaller till Alex only had one patient left.

'Thank God,' Alex muttered under his breath.

He entered the room, looked up from a chart, and stopped dead.

A patient, _his patient_ he assumed, wasn't wearing the hospital-issued gown. Instead she had replaced it with a tiny pink top that read "Good Girls Suck : Bad Girls Swallow" and pink flannel pjs. Her hair was long, wavy and mocha. It was then that Alex realized he was staring and he checked himself.

"Alika Brown? I'm Dr. Karev," he stammered. The woman opened her eyes and turned her head towards the door. It was then that Alex saw the vicious-looking scars that cut up and down her left arm. She looked him up and down with interest.

"So you're the frat boy Dr. Grey's fuming about," Alika said amusedly, adding in a stage whisper, "I thought you'd be taller."

"I thought you'd be more fully clothed, but hey, life's full of surprises," he shot back.

"You had no problem staring, so I'd say you think this is a good surprise," she replied archly. Alex went slightly bug-eyed.

"Just get on with your exam," she said, "I don't have time to deal misogynistic pigs at the moment." Alex glared at her than proceeded to read her chart aloud.

"Alika Brown, 23, Club Singer," Alex read her occupation with contempt in his voice, "You were admitted yesterday with complaints of chest and abdominal pains. Subsequent CTs revealed several tumours which have since proved to be non-malignant, though they are exerting force onto your internal organs." He looked up and sneered at his patient. "That means they're just a little boo-boo, Allie Cat."

"I know what non-malignant means, Cowboy," snapped Alika.

Alex rolled his eyes and stapled his best 'you're-pissing-me-off-but-I'll-be-gracious-and-let-it-go' smile on his face. He grabbed his patient's wrist and took her pulse.

"Only one state breeds people with that kind of smirk," observed Alika, knowing she was getting to him, "You _must _be from Iowa."

"Born and raised, babe," Alex said smoothly, all the while wishing he hadn't taken the Hippocratic Oath so he could _strangle _her, "with your confrontational bitchiness, I'd say you were from New York." He barely took a stab in the dark with that one, given her accent.

"Brooklyn, born and raised, _babe_," she echoed his last word contemptuously. Alex smirked at her reply, finished his exam quickly and headed out of the room, but not before Alika added her parting shot,

"By the way, you need a shower."

Granted, it wasn't the insult of the millennium, but Alex hadn't had the last word. He always had the last word. Alex paused in the doorway, and then stormed out, intent on finding something or someone to take out his anger on.


	2. Busting Out of Room 1156

**A/N: Hey! I thought since Chapter One was so pitifully long, I'd give you two chappies in one day!**

**Pairing: Alex/OC  
Genre: Romance/little bit Humour and Drama  
Rating: T  
p.s. Quote of the Update (it should be of the day, but I don't know if I can update everyday...)  
"So many of our dreams seem immpossible, then improbable, then inevitable."  
_ - Christopher Reeve_**

**Chapter 2: Busting Out of Room 1156**

Alika was fast growing bored with her room. No cable, No phone, No jackass to annoy, nothing. Hell, she would've settled for a potted plant. But no, only boring white walls and a picture of a forest. Yeah, she thought sourly, like _that's_ gonna make me feel all 'happy-happy-joy-joy' inside. She would go nuts if she stayed, but Doctor Whatshisname had told her not to leave because walking could place unnecessary pressure on her chest.

"Screw it," she announced to her empty room, "I'ma go for a walk. Or, maybe a wheel," Alika added, eyeing the folded up wheelchair sitting next to her bed with an evil grin.

After easing herself quietly into the chair, pulling on a blue cashmere poncho and ignoring the pressure on her chest, Alika slowly edged her way out into the hall looked left and right for nurses, then she took off towards the elevators, with her one 'whatever-it-was' monitor beeping plaintively while hooked on the back of the rolling chair precariously, its trundling wheels unused to the speed. Alika managed to slide into an open elevator and frantically pushed the "Down" button before any of the nurses recognized her.

Breathing a sigh of relief as the door closed behind her, the young woman smiled blandly at the doctor she was sharing the elevator with. The tall, dark-haired man looked curiously at her, as though he knew she was sneaking out of her room. Then she followed his gaze to her arm, which was sitting in an awkward position that revealed most of the scars. God, she _hated_ those scars. At least when she was at work she could put makeup over them, or wear long sleeves or _something_. At the hospital she couldn't hide her arms. She added it to her List of Reasons Why Alika Brown Should Avoid Hospitals.

The door _ping_-ed and opened and Alika trundled quickly out into the atrium of Seattle Grace, moving her left arm so that most of the scars was covered by her poncho.

First things being first, she totally ignored medical advice and bought a hamburger drizzled with cheddar cheese and bacon. It practically screamed, 'I am Capable of Killing You with a Look'. Alika paid for it and enjoyed every delicious morsel.

Artery clogging finished, she looked on the hospital map board and, once she found what she was searching for, headed leisurely up to the 3rd floor. Once there, she took a right and was suddenly in front of the nursery. Alika'd always felt calm and relaxed in nurseries. Probably some psychological term for it………

Alika was the only one there except for a guy in blue scrubs that looked younger than her. And he looked like he was talking to them. Weirdo, Alika pronounced, a smile playing on her lips, only us weirdos talk to babies.

"So, buddies," the guy said softly in a baby voice, "Should I say I'm sorry? Or should I not? Cause you know she totally-"

"You know they can't really hear you, right?" Alika interrupted, not unkindly. The guy jumped at her voice, then blushed to the roots of his brown hair.

"Ummm, yeah, uh, but I was, ya know, doing….umm, yeah," he trailed off, while Alika barely held in her laughter at his blustering. She knew her face was turning bright red and finally she just exploded with giggles.

Taken aback, the guy blushed an even deeper red. Alika, realizing his humiliation, calmed down and smiled.

"Don't worry," she confided, "I was coming down here to talk to them too. I'm kinda playing hooky." Her smile dimmed a little, and then Alika introduced herself.

"I'm George O'Malley," the guy replied, "What do you mean, playing hooky?" Then he observed the precariously placed "whatever-it-was" monitor. "Let me guess. You should probably be in bed, but you were bored out of your mind."

"Totally," sighed Alika, then she looked up at him from under her eyelashes. "You won't tell anyone, will you?" She did her best puppy-dog face. George laughed.

"Don't worry, I won't," he promised.

"So," said Alika, turning back to the infants, "Do you wanna talk about your 'little problem' with a person that'll actually respond?"

George turned back to face the babies, before talking about a girl named Olivia. He really liked her, but she done something pretty horrible to him. So should he forgive her, or just ice her out forever?

"Georgie, my boy," said Alika thoughtfully when he'd finished, "You're too much of a pushover. I think you should follow _my_ personal dating ethos."

"What's that?" demanded George a little too eagerly.

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," she answered promptly.

George stared at her.

"Ya know," she pressed him, "If love be rough with you, be rough with love?"

George stared at her a moment longer, then burst out laughing. Laughing, and laughing, he just couldn't stop. After a minute or two, with his face getting redder and redder, he finally attracted someone's attention, while Alika sat fuming in her chair.

"George? What the hell're you laughing 'bout?"

George finally seemed to get it under control, and he calmed down enough to wheeze out to the woman,

"We've found our female Alex, without the asshole part attached."

"Hi Dr. Grey," said Alika sullenly, "O'Malley here's making fun of my advice. And who the fuck's Alex?"

Meredith smiled. "George is a moron sometimes," she said, shutting him up effectively, before adding, "Alex is the doctor who replaced me as yours."

"Shit, O'Malley," snapped Alika, forgetting her plan to be incognito, "Couldn't you have compared me to someone who's not, say, 'Mr. Prick-Pig-Can't Get the Last Word in an Argument-Jerk off'!" But Meredith and George were too busy laughing at her statement to notice someone walking up behind Alika.

"O'Malley, Grey," barked an irritated voice, "Are you aiding my patient in directly disobeying medical advice?"

George and Meredith froze. Alika turned around and smiled weakly.

"Hi, Doctor….whathisname," she said lamely.

"Burke, young lady," he supplied with an eyebrow raised, "And, correct me if I'm wrong, Ms. Brown, didn't I tell you to _stay in bed_?"

"Maybe," Alika said morosely, "But I was so bored," she whined, "And the babies're so cute."

"But Ms Brown, you could cause some serious damage to your-"

"Okay, dude," interrupted Alika, rolling her eyes, "Seriously. If I had collapsed, O'Malley or Grey or even god forbid _Karev_ would come and rescue me. Then you'd move up my surgery time and chances are I'd return to work 'fore my boss wises up and fires my ass. So your whole 'serious damages' speech is kinda wasted on me. My dad gave 'um to me all the time and I never listen to them neither." She leaned back into her chair and folded her arms.

Burke had leaned forward and his eyes were flashing dangerously. Alika almost bite off her tongue, before he turned away and snapped at George,

"Take her back to her room." With that Burke began to walk down the hall.

George quaked in terror, swallowed hard and asked timidly, "Which room is hers?"

"I can't remember," called Burke breezily, "But I'll be on that floor in 4 minutes and _all_ of my patients better be accounted for or someone will be scrubbing ORs with a toothbrush." Then he turned a corner and was gone.

(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)

"Go, go, GO!" shouted Alika, urging George to run faster as they slid down the halls.

"I'm going as fast as I can," puffed George.

"THERE IT IS!" yelled the girl in triumph, "TURN LEFT INTO 1156!" George was out of breath but managed to wheeze them into the room and Alika jumped into bed and pulled off her poncho flinging it onto the empty bed next to her.

"Thanks, Georgie," said Alika sweetly, "You're a trooper."

George blushed at her words and her top. "It…w.was…n.n.n.o….problem," he panted, "Gla.a.d..to..av.avoid…scr..scrubbing….ORs."

Alika winked at him. "Visit me later, 'kay Trooper?"

"Sure…th.thing," replied George as he stumbled out of the room.

(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)(&)

"Grey, I'll give you anything, anything at all, if you switch cases with me."

Meredith smiled, in spite of her resolve to ice out Alex for pulling that stupid prank on George. She sat up from the bench she was lying on and stared at him.

"Depends who is it, what they have and why you want to swap," she said.

"Alika Brown, 23, Club Singer," recited Alex from Alika's chart, before looking up at Meredith and smirking. "She got a set of pipes on her, the bitchy, annoying kind that is. Seriously, she's got this total 'Ms.-Skanky-Outfit-Snarky-Comments-Non Malignant Tumours' thing down pat. Bitch," he added, almost as an afterthought.

"Why is she a bitch?" asked Meredith, "Is it because she thought you were a pig, or because she got the last word?"

Just as Alex began to reply, his pager went off. He looked at it and swore.

"She crashed!" he yelled and ran out of the locker room.

* * *

**P.P.S. oooooOOOOOooooo, cliffhanger.**


	3. The Tiny Ineffectual Fists Theory

**A/N: HeyHey, my little Shmurfs! 5 of you get big hugs and kisses for reviewing! XOXO**

**LaughingRanna: My BFF's stepmom is from Iowa and she has the most evil smirk I've ever seen! It's so fricking scary! (o' course it could be because she's a scary, evil bitch…….)**

**Newsgal-07: OC means Original Character. OFC means basically the same thing. You wouldn't believe how long it took me to figure that out on my own!**

**Cutleryismyfriend: OH YEAH, Alex totally got minorly told! (Pumps fist in the air!) p.s. an explaination of her job will come next chapter.**

**Hockey Gurl: I totally read "To Forget"! (ignore the fact I didn't review; I didn't have an account before and I don't think anything done anonymously is cool) And duh; lil Georgie is always cute!**

**Warrior of the Shadow: I tend to think Alex's softer side is worse than his mean side. I mean, a soft Alex. Where would _Grey's Anatomy_ be without the lovely asshole Alex?**

**Pairing: Alex/OC**

**Genre: Romance/lil bit Humour and Drama (oooOOOooo Drama!)**

**Rating: T**

**p.s. Quote of the Update**

"**I believe in give and take. I give orders…and kids take them."**

_**-Bernie Mac**_

**Chapter 3: 'Ineffectual Little Fists' Theory goes out the Window**

Alex rushed into Room 1156, his heart pounding and adrenaline pumping, to find Alika lying on her bed, eyes closed, wearing headphones and bopping her head to the music. He gaped at her, as she burst out into the chorus of "She's a Brick House".

"She's a Brick House," Alika drawled,

"Yeah, she's mighty, mighty, just a-letting it all hang out

"She's a Brick House,

"That lady's stacked and that's a fact, she ain't holding nothing ba- What THE FUCK?" yelled Alika, snapping her eyes open as Alex disconnected her headphones from her CD player.

"Is this your plan?" shouted Alex, pacing and throwing his arms up, "To make me run up and down stairs worrying that you're dead."

"What the fuck're you talking about?" snapped Alika, "I didn't do nothing."

"Really?" said Alex sarcastically.

"Contrary to your obviously moronic beliefs," replied Alika coldly, "I've no mind reading or telepathic abilities. So can you tell me what the hell you think I did?"

Just then, a nurse came flying into the room.

"Dr. Karev," she burst out, "We accidentally paged you."

For the second time in the as many minutes, Alex stood gaping.

"You_ accidentally paged me_?" he said, his voice growing in volume as he spoke, "I thought one of my patients had crashed and you're telling me it was an _accident_!"

Alika snorted. "I'm so glad y'all care, Karev," she said snidely.

"I want your surgery," he snapped back, still staring intensely at the nurse, who was shaking in her boots (figuratively speaking, of course).

"Ooh, Dirty!" laughed Alika.

Alex turned and smirked at her.

"Mind-"

Alika's pupils dilated slightly as Alex moved closer to her.

"-Gutter-"

Alex licked his lips unconsciously, and then turned up the volume on his shit-eating grin.

"-Out."

Alika smirked back flirtatiously.

"Maybe later, Cowboy," she said softly, "For now, I'll settle for a consult with the Doc at the door."

Alex whirled around in disbelief and just managed to affix a neutral expression on his face as Burke strolled into the room. The normally distant and rather stoic surgeon was grinning at his smart-mouthed patient and raising an eyebrow to his intern, who had been a little too close for comfort to the young Ms. Brown, in his opinion.

"Nice to see you back in your room, Ms. Brown," he said cheerfully.

"What're you talking 'bout, Doctor Whathisname," Alika replied, just as cheerfully, "I ain't ever left." They looked at each other for a moment, and then burst into laughter, shaking and howling. Alex was nearly transfixed at the sight of Burke smiling, joking and _laughing_ with a patient. It never happened; In fact, it was nearly miraculous that Burke could laugh at all, given how arrogant and superior he acted.

Burke calmed down and began his exam. Everything seemed normal, until he listened to her chest. He frowned at the sound and then felt around for the various tumours, with the Chest X-rays.

"These can't be particularly comfort-inducing," he remarked, adding, "They feel more solid then they were yesterday. Karev, take her down for new X-rays and CTs."

Alex pasted a smile on his face.

Alika smirked at him from behind Burke's back.

And Alex replied in the affirmative to Burke's request-slash-order.

Burke left the room and Alex began to push the bed down the hall towards the elevators, something which Alika was grinning in a very shit-eating way. After several minutes waiting fruitlessly for an elevator, basking of his patient's smugness, Alex finally snapped and he demanded to know what she was so happy about.

"You're my slave," replied Alika amusedly.

"Really?" asked Alex sarcastically, "And what makes you think that?"

Alika didn't reply; instead she looked him up and down.

"Cuz I'm hotter than you," she said finally, and winked.

"So, Ms Brown, I believe the moral of this story is not to disregard medical advice," lectured Burke as he looked at her CTs, "These tumours are rapidly growing. Something's wrong."

Suddenly, Alika was as still and quiet as a church. "When can you operate?" she asked demurely.

"I want to look at your overnight labs before I operate," replied Burke apologetically, "But it should be today or tomorrow."

Alika nodded her head in affirmation, as Burke smiled encouragingly.

As soon as he was out the door, her chin wobbled and her eyes filled with tears. Alex, not noticing, withdrew some blood and was preparing to send it down to the lab.

"Don't worry Alley Cat, these will help keep your bitchy claws sharp," he said snidely, as he looked up at his patient. Alika quickly wiped her eyes and told him to go fuck himself.

"Aw, poor baby, are you crying?" Alex pressed on, hoping to piss her off, while secretly feeling sorry for the slip of a girl.

Alika's watery eyes flashed dangerously and in her fury, she appeared to grow an inch. Or three. Alex knew he'd crossed a line but never let that knowledge affect the smirk of self-satisfaction pasted to his lips.

"Welcome the Fuck OFF!" yelled Alika, "Population: YOU!"

Suddenly, there was a snort of laughter from the doorway. Alika and Alex both turned and saw George there, his face turning red from the effort of not laughing.

"You guys are hilarious," he choked out and wheezed with mirth.

"Screw this, I'm gone," snapped Alex and he stomped out of the room.

"Make sure to let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!" Alika called after him. Then, she and George dissolved into laughter together.


End file.
